Catalyst
by JustEedee
Summary: Fate has always had a way of making everything more complicated. After his encounter with Thanos, Loki inexplicably finds himself very much alive and on Midgard after Jane Foster and her companions find him injured and half-buried in the snow. Then after half the world falls to ashes, the only thing Jane and Loki can do is search for answers. (Lokane - rating may change later)
1. Prologue

_A/N: Aaaaand, I'm back! It's been a LONG time (cause LIFE) since I've sat down to write. This new ship obsession of mine re-ignited the writing fire in my old bones. I'm really rusty so just bear with me. I'll also be posting this on AO3._

_Disclaimer: I don't own the characters featured in this writing (Thor/Avengers/MCU, etc), and it is purely for entertainment and as an outlet for my poor brain. _

**Catalyst**

**Prologue:**

"_Systir_… Are you certain?"

"It is _what shall be_. Do you doubt me?"

"Of course not, _systir_."

Two pairs of eyes glowed as they watched their sister expectantly. She stood across from them among the shimmering threads that hung in the darkness, each golden and glowing with the thrum of magic. There were thousands, millions hanging from every direction, intersecting, tangling, with new threads being spun and old threads falling with each second that passes by. In her hands, she held the cut halves of a dimmed thread.

Holding both ends in one hand, she covered them with her other hand as the swirl of old magic slowly spread from her fingertips. She closed her eyes as a breath escaped her lips, and as gingerly she let go and stepped back, warm glow spread from where her hands were until the entire length of the thread shined as brightly as the other threads that surrounded her.

"It is _what shall be_…"

* * *

For as long as he could remember, the cold never bothered him. After acquiring the knowledge of his true heritage, it made sense that he would be impervious to such frigid temperatures that would be enough to kill most others. But right now, all he could feel was the cold.

It was so _cold_.

A wretched gasp parted cracked lips as his green eyes shot open. A dark, starless sky hung above as snowflakes danced in the air and fell around him. With every heave of air, his lungs hurt like a thousand needles had punctured them and a searing pain rang all over his body. He tried to move, but his limbs lay frozen and unmoving in the frost. The more he tried to move, the more the pain washed excruciatingly through all his brokenness.

None of this made sense. He was _dead_. He _was_ dead.

He growled hoarsely as his attempts to move continued to prove futile. Then, unable to bare the pain any longer, his vision slowly started to blur. A single question burned in Loki's mind before he succumbed to the darkness: _How?_


	2. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I don't own the characters featured in this writing (Thor/Avengers/MCU, etc), and it is purely for entertainment and as an outlet for my poor brain. _

**Chapter 1:**

"Darcy! Darcy, wake up!"

"Wha...?" Darcy groaned, pushing herself up on one arm from the couch she'd been taking a nap on. "I was literally having the best dream ever, man. What's going on?"

Jane was running around her living room in a flurry, stopping to check the flashing and beeping computer screen in the corner, rifling through papers strewn about her desk, and grabbing bits of equipment here and there. Something… _strange_ landed nearby and caused enough of a disturbance to trigger her monitoring systems.

"Come on Darcy, we need to go!" Jane said, flinging a backpack onto Darcy's lap before running to grab her coat and knit hat from the living area closet. The front door swung open and she looked up as Ian walked in, covered in snow, and rubbing his hands furiously to warm them.

"Dr. Foster, the Shaman is ready," he said, his teeth chattering as he stood in the doorway, shivering even in his large coat. He threw a nervous look at her as he pushed his hood off his head. "Uh, are you sure about this? There's a storm coming in and it's getting pretty bad out there now."

Suddenly, the beeping stopped. Jane looked over at her computer across the room and then down at the small device in her hands. She smacked hard it three times against the base of her palm, but nothing. Her eyebrows furrowed and she shook her head – she didn't think it was malfunctioning. Then, without a second thought, she locked on to the last coordinates from the energy signature on her device before looking up at Ian. Grabbing her bag, she motioned for him to follow her.

"Let's go," she said, stepping past him and into the snow.

Darcy shot Jane an incredulous look as she wrapped a scarf around her neck and hurried after her boss through the door. "Jane, are you crazy?! We'll _die_!"

* * *

The engine of the Shaman roared as it trudged through howling winds and snow-covered terrain. They'd been traveling for over an hour now, but they had just a little farther to go. The storm was slowing them down to a crawl, but they were almost _there_.

Ian squinted his eyes, leaning forward as he drove slowly and cautiously, the visibility getting worse the farther they went. He glanced over his shoulder at Jane before he turned back to the swirling darkness the snow tank's headlights were barely penetrating. "What do you think it is?" he asked, keeping the steering wheel in front of him steady.

"Honestly, I'm not sure. We'll just have to see when we get there, I guess," Jane replied, her eyebrows knitted together seriously as she tapped away at her handheld device.

"You're not hoping it's a certain bearded-blondie, do you?" Darcy nudged her with an elbow. "Because if you are, I haven't forgotten that you told me slap you. I'll slap you."

Jane shook her head exasperatedly. "Darcy, you of all people should know that… just-just, absolutely not!" She shot Darcy a frown while the girl shrugged her shoulders.

"What? I'm just saying! Anytime something like this happens, your former boy-toy usually shows up!"

"He is NOT my boy-toy!"

"I said _former_ boy-toy!"

Jane rolled her eyes and brought her focus back to her device. "Look, I'm almost positive it's not him. It's not giving off readings anything like the Bifrost or the portals when we were in England. It's _different_. I've never seen anything like this befo-"

Suddenly, the Shaman jarred to a stop, jerking both Jane and Darcy forward against their seatbelts, the tracking device slamming onto the floor as it fell from Jane's hold.

"What the hell was that?!" Darcy yelled.

"Stop moving!" Jane snapped as she quickly gripped the shoulder of Ian's seat with one hand and Darcy's wrist with the other, her eyes wide. Even with what little visibility they had in front of them, she realized that it was completely dark except for the flash of snowflakes as the headlights reflected against them. The headlights weren't hitting anything else - there wasn't any _ground_ in front of them at all.

Slowly, the metal of the ATV shuddered around them. A loud and slow creak echoed in the vehicle cabin as they collectively held their breath, instinctively leaning back in their seats. Then, they felt the nose-end of the Shaman tip forward sharply.

Jane gasped, "No, no, no, NO!"

The three of them screamed as they plunged down a quick and steep slope.

"Ian, do something!" Darcy shrieked frantically.

"I'm trying!" he scream-cried back at her. Ian desperately gripped the steering wheel, slamming on the brakes with both feet and all his weight.

The ATV rattled around them violently as it sped down the slope faster than it was made to go. It started to slide from side to side as it plummeted farther down whatever ravine they had fallen into. Then as fast as their descent, the tank-like machine slammed its front wheels onto even ground, bouncing up and down forcefully, before halting to an abrupt stop.

Darcy slammed her back into her seat, pressing so hard against it that it was as if she wanted to fuse into it, her knuckles white as she dug her fingers into the armrests. "Okay," she let out shakily, "Can we, like, _not_ do that again, ever?"

"What's that?"

Jane breathed heavily as she leaned forward and brushed away the brown hair that had fallen across her face. She stared down Ian's arm and out the front window of the Shaman. She strained her eyes, scanning the snow and the dark for whatever he was pointing at. Then, hurriedly, she undid her seatbelt and got up to stand next to him, her hand pressed against the dashboard as she saw a lump half-buried in the snow.

"I think…" she heard Darcy start as the girl walked up to the other side of the driver's seat, "I think that's a person."

"It _is_ a person," Jane said, her eyes wide.

She swung around, grabbing her battered device on the floor, before running to the side door of the Shaman. She flung her fur-lined hood over her head and grabbed the door latch, pushing it open. The wind howled around her as she stepped out and jumped down, sinking until the snow was up to her knees. Slowly, she made her way to the dark lump illuminated by the headlights.

"Jane, wait!" Darcy called out to the astrophysicist, the snow crunching as she and Ian also jumped out of the ATV. "You don't know who or what that is! What if it's one of those crazy elves again?!"

Darcy yelped as she tripped and fell forward, having difficulty trying to walk through the deep snow. Ian grabbed her shoulders and hauled her back up, offering his arm to help her as she lifted her feet one by one to try to catch up to Jane.

"Or _worse_, what if it's Thor?!"

Jane half-rolled her eyes and pressed forward, her heart beating hard against her chest as she struggled against the high snow. "I don't think it's him!" she shouted back at her two assistants through the wind, twisting her body to look back at them. She waved at them and turned back to look in front of her, "Come on!"

The bitter kiss of the cold stung her cheeks and she brought up her arm to shield her face as she continued to move forward. She looked down at her device as it glowed, a red dot blinking in the middle of the cracked screen. _That's it – it has to be what was causing that signal!_ She pushed herself, grunting as she took a few more steps, before she fell and landed on her hands and knees. She panted heavily, the muscles of her legs starting to hurt from forcing themselves through the snow. She started to slowly pull herself up until her eyes focused on the thing in front her and her breath caught in her throat.

It was…

"Jane!" Darcy fell next to her, snow clinging her face, her hair, and the hood of her jacket. Slowly, the girl looked up too. "Who is-"

"Loki…" Jane blurted out, crawling to kneel just next to the body and her forehead creasing as she looked down utterly baffled. _How… is this possible?_

On the ground in front of her was the younger Prince of Asgard, his torso sticking out of the snow as he laid there, the leather of his clothes battered and dirty. A horrible, sick-looking bruise circled all around his neck, and there was dried blood and several scratches marking his pale face.

"Wait, what? You don't mean Thor's insane, psychopath, adopted bro who tried to take over the world, do you?" Darcy moved closer, Ian right behind her. "I thought you said he was dead!"

"I thought he was, Darcy! I watched him get stabbed! I watched him die right in front of me!"

"Is… is he dead now?"

Jane hesitantly reached forward, her fingers moved to a spot just under his wrist, but she couldn't feel anything at all – her hands were too cold to feel anything. "I'm not sure," she said.

Then, she placed her hand on his shoulder and shook vigorously, "Loki… Loki! Loki, can you hear me?!"

He didn't move.

"Ian," Jane called as she turned to look over her shoulder. "I need you to help m-"

She screamed as she was abruptly yanked forward. She whipped her head back around and saw two haunting, green eyes glaring up at her. Loki's hand was gripped tightly around her wrist and she almost winced from the pain as she felt his fingers tighten even more.

"How?" she heard him choke out, his voice deep and sounding as broken as he looked, his eyes crazed with the blood vessels in them red, angry, and burst.

"I-"

"_How?_" he snarled at her, baring his teeth.

Jane gasped and pulled her arm quickly, but just as she did, Loki's face contorted in pain and his eyes rolled as he fell back to unconsciousness. She fell away from him, her other hand wrapping around the wrist that throbbed from his hold. She felt Darcy's hands grab her arm as Ian stepped past her, placing himself between her and where the prince of Asgard laid in the snow. She could barely hear them as they asked if she was okay, and she remained silent as her eyes focused on Loki's face.

_Loki, what happened to you?_

* * *

The door to the cottage swung open and slammed with a loud bang as it hit the wall behind it. Snow drifted into the entryway as Jane held the door open. Ian carefully made his way backwards into the house, his hands under Loki's arms while Darcy followed, holding onto the god's legs under both of her arms. Then as they crossed through the threshold, the assistants both collapsed onto the floor, Loki's body landing on the hardwood between them with a loud thud. Behind them, Jane pushed the door closed.

"Jesus Christ!" Darcy exclaimed, rubbing the muscles of her arms. "Seriously, what is this dude made of? _Bricks_?!"

Jane quickly moved across from Ian, grabbing one of Loki's arms and struggling to lift him to put his arm over her shoulders. She looked over at Ian, nodding her head to motion at Loki's other arm, "Let's get him to the spare room."

"Got it," Ian said as he took Loki's other arm.

"I'll go get the first-aid kit," Darcy volunteered as she pushed herself off the ground and disappeared into the kitchen.

On the count of three, Jane and Ian stood up from the entryway, hoisting Loki up to hang between them lopsidedly. They made their way towards the right, awkwardly squeezing through a small hallway not fit to accommodate three people at the same time. As they reached a door to the left, Jane turned the doorknob and pushed the door, kicking it with her foot until it swung fully open. They stumbled in and quickened their pace across the small room until they dropped the dark-haired god onto the bed. Jane then moved to grab his legs while Ian ran to the other side of the bed and grabbed Loki's arm. They tugged and pulled until he laid more-or-less in the middle of the bed.

Darcy ran into the room, the first aid kit and a few other supplies in her arms. She deposited them onto the bedside table and reached up into the lamp, finding the little knob under the bulb and turning it to illuminate the room. "Jane," she said as she walked over to the scientist standing at the foot of the bed, "I really, _really_ don't think this is a good idea."

Ian moved to join them and they all three stared down at Loki's form, still unconscious and looking terribly out of place on the small bed of their spare room.

"Probably not," Jane sighed, her arms crossed over her chest. She let her eyes wander to the bruising that was peeking out from behind Loki's high collar. There was something about this whole situation that just didn't sit right with her, and she had to find out why.

_Loki…_

The murmur of his name - was he just imagining it?

There was the soft, whispering movement of the wind as it brushed against his skin and caused the blades of grass around him to dance. His eyes opened sluggishly, green looking up at a greyed sky that he did not know. Suddenly, he sat up, eyes darting around him before he looked down at his hands, turning them over with a perplexed expression marking his face. One of his hands shakily moved to his neck, and then he heard it again.

_Loki…_

His dark hair swirled across his face as he pivoted, standing up as he shifted his body into a defensive stance. He shot his arms out down his sides with open palms, a silver dagger materializing in each hand. He gripped them tightly as his eyes methodically scanned his surroundings.

"Show yourself!" he shouted, his voice echoing around him.

Whatever realm he was in, he didn't recognize where he was. A thick fog hung in the air, and giant trees with reddish bark towered around him, their branches swaying high above as the wind gradually began to pick up. It was much too quiet, and he didn't like it at all. It was _unnerving_.

_Loki…_

He heard a sound behind him and instantly, he spun and sent one of his daggers flying through the air. He watched most intently as it lodged itself into a tree, the sound of the bark cracking under the pressure of the blade slicing through the thick silence. He gritted his teeth and glared around him. "You dare hide from a god? I said, show yourself!"

From his periphery, he saw a dark form and as he turned his head, he realized it was a raven gliding through the air, circling around him. He watched it carefully as it flapped its black wings in descent, landing silently on the dagger sticking out of a tree. He straightened slightly as he narrowed his eyes, his grip on his other blade firm and unyielding. The dark bird looked at him, tilting its head before it let out a loud caw, fluttering its wings several times as it balanced on the dagger's handle.

Then out of nowhere, Loki's head lunged forward as he felt the wind rush by his ear b and something moved swiftly over his shoulder. His arm shot up instantly to shield his head before he looked up to see another raven, croaking at him before it landed on a branch above the first bird.

_Loki…_

A deafening high-pitched sound suddenly flooded his ears and Loki stumbled forward, his dagger disappearing as he grabbed both of his ears. Pain filled his head as he staggered backwards, darting his eyes around him wildly.

_Loki. Loki! LOKI! Loki. Loki… Loki!_

There were so many of them – loud, quiet, screaming, and whispering – voices coming from everywhere and nowhere all at once. A strangled growl escaped his lips as he tried in vain to drown out the sound of his own name being beckoned. The ravens squawked loudly, almost mocking him, as they watched him and shook their wings from their perches.

Loki's chest constricted agonizingly, and he fell to his knees, his hands leaving his ears and flying forward to catch himself. The fog around him thickened, closing in on him as if it was attempting to suffocate the air around him as the wind started to wail mercilessly. The voices were unrelenting and as he looked up, his vision darkened, a wave of nausea washing over him. The last thing he saw before the darkness swallowed him up completely was two pairs of glowing eyes as the ravens looked down at him and screeched.

_Loki_…

* * *

Jane sipped on her coffee as she walked down the hall from her bedroom, the warm liquid warming her to her bones. It was especially chilly today but at least the storm was finally over, breaking just before dawn. As she was about to walk past the guest room, she stopped in front of the open door and turned her head, letting her tired eyes wander around the room for a moment.

In the corner, a pair of black boots leaned against the wall, and next to it was a chair with neatly folded leather sitting atop. Her eyes moved to the bed where Loki laid quietly – even after a few hours, he still hadn't woken up. They managed to clean up a few of the wounds on his face and he didn't seem to have any major injuries that they could see. Her eyes lingered on the darkness on his neck as a small frown formed on her lips.

She sighed before she continued down the hallway until it opened into the living room. She stopped at her small desk and dropped some papers she had been holding under one arm before she walked over to the coffee table and leaned down. She exchanged her cup for the small tablet that was on the table in front of her and she straightened.

"God, Jane," she heard Darcy start as the girl walked in from the kitchen. "You look horrible. Don't tell me you didn't get any sleep."

Jane shook her head and pressed her fingers into the lids of her eyes, rubbing them softly. "I'm fine," she dismissed.

She had been up the rest of the night since they got back and got Loki situated, analyzing the energy signature that accompanied his appearance. She tapped a window on the tablet and enlarged it, her eyes scanning over the numbers that scrolled up the screen. She'd looked over the data countless times, but she still couldn't figure it out. She rubbed her temple and she placed the tablet back down on the table.

Walking over to the closet by the entryway, Jane grabbed her coat and slipped it on. She briskly zipped it up, threw her hood over her head, and opened the front door. She stepped out, the stiff snow on the front steps crunching as she made her way down to the walkway. The door shut behind her as Darcy caught up, their breath fogging in front of them as they made their way around the house. A few meters ahead were the detached garage and greenhouse they had turned into a makeshift lab, the Shaman parked next to it and covered in snow. The side door to the Shaman was open and as they neared, Ian poked his head out and waved at the two women. They watched as he exited the vehicle, shutting the door before running over to them.

"It doesn't look like she got any damage from last night," he said, motioning his hand back at the ATV. "They really built these things to last, they did."

"Good," Jane smiled.

"Hey, do you hear that?"

Jane and Ian turned to Darcy as the brown-haired girl looked around at the trees. They watched her take a few steps away and point up where black shapes sat atop a high branch. "There," she said, "I didn't know they had crows in Norway. I thought it'd be too cold for them here."

"Corvus corax," Ian said matter-of-factly as he stepped up to her, looking up with a big grin on his face. "The raven. They're actually quite common in Norway, you know, but they're pretty territorial. We've been back here for about a year now and this is the first time I've seen any. I figured they didn't have any territory out here. Did you know that… "

Ian trailed on, waving his hands excitedly as he went on to talk about other native bird species in the area. Jane laughed and looked at the top of the tree Darcy had pointed to. Strangely, the birds almost seemed as if they were a bit too large to be normal, but Jane stared at them a while, appreciating the way that they contrasted against the stark white background of the artic circle. Then, as if the ravens had noticed the three were watching, both birds squawked down at them, flapping their wings loudly before taking off into the sky.

Suddenly, Jane realized that there was a muffled, rapid beeping going off inside the lab. Darcy and Ian immediately looked back at she and the three made a run for the building. Jane flung the door open and she rushed for one of the terminals. She tapped a blinking icon on the screen, zooming in on a strange energy burst. It was _powerful_, originating from somewhere in Africa.

"Jane! It's Erik!"

The astrophysicist looked up at Darcy and ran over next to the girl who was waving for her, Erik's face looking up from the screen in front of them. Around him on the screen were several flashing windows with videos of circular ships hovering over New York, people running and metal flying everywhere as chaos erupted.

"Them timestamps. These were from yesterday… Erik, what's going on?"

"Jane, listen to me", Erik looked at her, a serious expression on his face. "He's done it."

Jane's forehead wrinkled as she shook her head confused. "What are you talking about?"

"It's _him_, Jane. I saw him because of New York, because of the Tesseract. He's done it."

She watched a flash of panic cross Erik's eyes before he rubbed his tired face with his hands. "Who?" she asked, "Damn it, Erik, I don't understand!"

"Jane, my research! I've just sent it over. Look at my research!"

Ian tapped on a screen across the room. A file flashed in the corner and he pressed on it. "Got it! Decrypting it now."

"Oh my god, Erik!" Jane screamed, her hand moving to cover her mouth.

On the screen, the older man brought his hands up in front of him, a look of sheer terror on his face as his fingertips broke into small, flyaway pieces like dust. "Jane…" he breathed as he looked up at her through the screen. Cracks spread up through his arms, his torso, up his neck, and over his face. He closed his eyes and as his skin turned a pallid grey, in a second, he was gone with only bits of ash scattered on his desk remaining.

"Erik, NO!"

The beeping of her systems stopped abruptly, and the room fell eerily silent. Jane stood there shocked, her eyes wide and her hands trembling as she braced them against the table. Erik… was gone.

She felt Darcy's hand wrap around her arm and tighten. "Jane," the girl let out shakily, "What… what the fuck is going on?"

"I don't know,", Jane turned, her eyes watering as she leaned forward, wrapping her arms almost desperately around Darcy. "I don't know…"

* * *

_A/N: For background info, the Shaman is a real ATV (All-Terrain Vehicle). It took forever to find one that functions much the same as a car when you drive it since doing additional research on how to drive winter-specific ATVs was making my head hurt. If you look it up, it looks pretty freaking cool – fun fact: Matt LeBlanc (from Friends) does a spot on it for Top Gear (you can find it on YT).  
_


End file.
